Becoming A SMUSHie
Student residents of the SMU Service House – also known as SMUSH – share a passion for volunteering.
For more than a decade, SMU’s Service House – also known as SMUSH – has offered students a unique learning environment. The former fraternity house, located at Dyer Street and Airline Avenue, is home to 28 students who live and breathe community service.
“(The SMUSH house) draws students who usually have an interest in service, but it also attracts students interested in gaining a stronger sense of community,” says Antron Mahoney, SMUSH community director. “Once students get in the house, they stay because there’s nothing else like it on campus.”
Residents must perform a minimum of 20 hours of service as individuals and 10 hours of service with the house each semester. Students volunteer with such agencies as Vickery Meadows through SMU’s Catholic Center, the YMCA and North Texas Food Bank.
The close-knit group cooks together, creates its own house rules and organizes service projects ranging from providing after-school activities for Dallas-area children to recruiting other students to become involved in the community.
Jake Fields moved into the SMUSH house in 2007 – when he came to campus as a first-year student from his native England – and plans to stay until he graduates.
“It’s the best place to live on campus,” says Fields, a psychology major who is also a member of the service fraternity APO and participates in after-school tutoring and local clean-up projects. “A lot of people might see service as quite boring, sadly, but we do a lot of community building and plan fun activities like game nights and karaoke. It’s a great balance.”
Hannah Kolni lived in the SMUSH house her last semester before graduating
in 2008. She enjoyed living with like-minded, socially aware students and coordinating local environmental projects. She believes it offered a resource for students to learn about area nonprofits and make valuable contacts.
“Volunteering is the best way to get a job with nonprofits for those who are interested in going into that as a profession,” says Kolni, an outreach coordinator for the city of Dallas” Office of Environmental Quality.
The service house attracts students from all majors, cultures and walks of life, says Mahoney, who receives up to 30 applications a year from potential SMUSHies, as they call themselves.
Students Live Where They Serve … Click here to read more.